Solidarity with suffering: Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” remains a searing testament to injustice
By Tracy Fessenden, Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University Sixty-five years ago, on July 17, 1959, Billie Holiday died at Metropolitan Hospital in New York. The 44-year-old singer arrived after being turned away from a nearby charity hospital on...
A just society: Why Black economic boycotts of the Civil Rights era still offer lessons for today
By Kevin A. Young, Associate Professor of History, UMass Amherst Signed into law 60 years ago, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in the U.S. based on “race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.” Yet, as a historian who studies social movements...
Visible minorities: Why Black women are still unable to smash the “concrete ceiling” of corporate leadership
By Oludolapo Makinde, Doctoral Candidate, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia While White women may speak of breaking through the “glass ceiling,” for many Black women, it is more like a “concrete ceiling.” Black women experience unique and...
Life in a ghost town: Why people stay in their homes long after the local economy has collapsed
By Amanda McMillan Lequieu, Assistant Professor of Environmental Sociology, Drexel University It was midday on a Saturday, and Simonetta led me from the open front door of her home in southeast Chicago to her sitting room and settled next to her husband, Christopher,...
The debate over pennies: Why Americans leave a huge chunk of change at airport security checkpoints
By Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy and Law, Boston University Should the U.S. get rid of pennies, nickels and dimes? The debate has gone on for years. Many people argue for keeping coins on the grounds of economic fairness. Others call...
Identity development: How living in the public sphere of social media damages the well-being of children
By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast Over recent months, a number of politicians have supported calls to ban social media for children under 16. Currently, kids under 13 are not allowed to use social media. There is some...
Fear of the water: How a menacing monster in the movie “Jaws” inspired a generation of shark scientists
By Gavin Naylor, Director of Florida Program for Shark Research, University of Florida Human fear of sharks has deep roots. Written works and art from the ancient world contain references to sharks preying on sailors as early as the eighth century B.C.E. Relayed back...
An American insult: How the meaning of being a “sellout” was shaped by political corruption
By Ian Afflerbach, Associate Professor of American Literature, University of North Georgia If you follow politics, sports, Hollywood or the arts, you have no doubt heard the insult “sellout” thrown around to describe someone perceived to have betrayed a core principle...
Paralyzed Tech: Global IT outage highlights major vulnerabilities in the digital ecosystem
By Richard Forno, Principal Lecturer in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County The global information technology outage on July 19, 2024, that paralyzed organizations ranging from airlines to hospitals and even the...
Joe Biden’s withdrawal from presidential race revives a party convention process not used since 1968
By Philip Klinkner, James S. Sherman Professor of Government, Hamilton College Now that Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the nominee, it will ultimately be up to Democratic National Convention...
A duel to save America: Why Wisconsin is the unpredictable swing state in this year’s election
By Jonathan J. Kasparek, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Voters in Wisconsin, now considered a critical swing state ahead of the 2024 presidential election, may be among the most unpredictable in the nation. Although former President Barack...
Emotion tracking: Workers fear being misunderstood by AI evaluations of their facial expressions
By Nazanin Andalibi, Assistant Professor of Information, University of Michigan Emotion artificial intelligence uses biological signals such as vocal tone, facial expressions and data from wearable devices as well as text and how people use their computers, promising...